Stoke beat Man Utd to add to Van Gaal's misery

Louis van Gaal's gamble to leave Wayne Rooney on the bench backfired as another poor apology of a Manchester United performance saw them deservedly beaten 2-0 by Stoke City. It was United's fourth defeat in a row – the worst run since 1990 when Sir Alex Ferguson was fighting for his job.

Goals by Bojan and Marko Arnautovic in the opening half-hour killed any hopes United had of winning their first match in seven. At the time, Rooney was sat despondently in the dug-out behind assistant Ryan Giggs, and was unable to change the game after being sent on at half-time for Memphis Depay, whose blunder set up the opening goal.

All eyes will now be on whether van Gaal survives until Monday's game against Chelsea. Certainly the United manager is running out people to blame and it was maybe not a good sign for him that executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward wasn't at The Britannia to support him.